B1G Hockey Play opens in Ohio State

WEEKEND INFORMATION

• Michigan State hockey will open the Big Ten match at Ohio State this weekend, the first conference games for both teams. The teams will meet on Friday at 6pm and play Saturday’s match at 2pm.

• Both games this weekend feature live streaming B1G +, the Big Ten Network streaming system.

• Scott Moore and Rob Woodward invite action on Spartan Media Network. The game will be broadcast live on WJIM 1240 AM (Friday) and WVFN 730 AM (Saturday) in the Lansing area as well as online via MSUSpartans.com.

• Steve Rohlik is in his ninth season behind the Buckeye bench, and his team was inactive last weekend after the start of Season 3-1, which included a split in Bentley and the first two weekends of the UConn season.

• MSU holds an all-time 93-51-13 record against Ohio State, which includes 41-26-6 in races played at Columbus. The teams split their two series last season and even split the weekend in both matches. MSU won a 3-2 OT win at Value City Arena, but dropped 4-2 in the second game, and Ohio State won the first night in East Lansing (5-1) before the Spartans closed the Buckeyes in the second game (2- 0).

• MSU forward Jagger Joshuan brother Dakota was a four-year letter winner at the Buckeyes, graduating in 2019. He is second through the St. Louis Blues and currently at the Springfield Thunderbirds (AHL).

COMMENTS FROM THE GROUP

• The Spartans traveled east last weekend, ending in a 2-2 draw and suffering a 4-0 loss to UMass Lowell.

• Saturday’s loss cut a four-match losing streak for MSU, which lost extra time on the season’s opening night to Air Force (3-2). The Spartans allowed a power game goal and a shortfall in a 4-0 loss.

• The Spartans had killed 14 consecutive penalties in the previous four games before handing over an extra man’s point in the first period of Saturday’s Lowell game. UML placed 1-5 in the evening power game and 1-10 in the series with a male advantage.

• MSU owns a penalty percentage of 0.905, which shuts off against the 19/21 chance. Spartan ranks fourth in the Big Ten series and 13th nationally in the PK series.

• The Spartans made their fifth power game result of the season in Lowell on Friday, which is equivalent to the team’s 2020-21 performance in the man. MSU is currently 5-21 (.238) in PP, good third in Big Ten and 17th nationally.

• MSU have collected 29 penalty kicks in 80 minutes, averaging 13.33 per game. The Spartans are fourth in Big Ten and 16th in Division I in penalty minutes per race.

• The Spartans have scored their first goal in four of their six matches and hold a 2-1-1 record in these races.

• Newcomers to MSU have made a significant contribution to the team’s attacks, with half of the team’s goals (7) and points (14) achieved so far this season.

• Michigan State’s record is 7-18-2 in the Covid-19 shortened season 2020-21, when the Spartans only played on the Big Ten (plus Arizona State) schedule. MSU finished seventh in Big Ten.

• After playing only four non-conference games in the 2020-21 season (all against ASU), Spartans will have 10 matches in the 2021-22 season. MSU played two-matched games at home against Air Force and Miami, as well as a pair on their way to UMass-Lowell last weekend. There are still promises to go home and home with Ferris State, as well as two Great Lakes Invitational games against Western Michigan and Michigan Tech.

• Michigan State will return 19 letter winners to the 2021-22 campaign and welcome seven new players. Four of the newcomers have previous college hockey experience, and there are three real freshmen.

• Nine of MSU’s 15 attackers will return to green and white for the 2020-21 season. Thanks to some moves, the MSU attackers have a total of 678 college hockey games. Seven defenders return with 346 matches played (all in MSU), and the three goalkeepers have a total of 52 games.

• Four new entrants to MSU with previous experience (Chris Berger, Jeremy Davidson, Griffin Loughran, and Erik Middendorf) brings 222 men’s games to the Spartan lineup and a combined 54-62-116 finish line. Everyone has at least two eligibility periods left.

PLAYER NOTES – FOR ATTACK

• Jeremy Davidson scored a goal in Friday’s match at UMass-Lowell, and the best five-match scoring streak in his career broke on Saturday as the Spartan attack closed.

• On the score line 4-2–6 Davidson has the best of his career in goals and points, and his career leveled off with two assists this season. He played one season collegially at UMass (2019-20) and scored a goal and two assists in 22 games, after which he returned to the USHL to play at Fargo Force in 2020-21.

• Davidson finishes ninth in Big Ten in points (9), third in goal (4) and ranks second with two power game entries. He is in 12th Big Ten points per game (1.00).

• Mitchell Lewandowski leads MSU by seven points (3g, 4a), finishing fourth in Big Ten. He scored one entry point in last Friday’s match against UMass-Lowell, the 140th consecutive game he has played during his college tour. He has played the most of the active players in Division I hockey. The Ironman series broke when he missed last Saturday’s match.

• Lewandowski is ninth in the B1G series in goals (3), Fifth in entry points (4) and Fifth plus / minus (+5). His 1.40 points per match is fourth in Big Ten.

• Lewandowski holds the second highest score in the career among NCAA active skaters with 107. He also ranks fifth in power game goals (18) and is in first place among the winners of the game (10).

• Griffin Loughran finishes third in the team in points (5) and recorded an entry point last weekend in UMass-Lowell, raising his season total to three.

• Loughran and Davidson each have two power games – split 16th in the National Leaderboard (second in the B1G series) in this category.

• Loughran is the best transfer of this season to the Spartan lineup. He scored 72 points (35 goals, 37 assists) in three years at NMU.

• Josh Nodler scored the opening goal for the season 2021-22 for MSU, and on the 1-3–4 finish line, he ranks second in the helpers and ranks fourth with four-year points.

• Nodler’s 55 initial wins finish seventh in Big Ten, winning 57% of his matches of the season (55-42). In Big Ten, his 55 wins finish seventh.

• With a grant last weekend Kristof Papp is tied to the fuchsia offensive result with four pass points per season, which is a good 12th place in Big Ten.

• Papp has taken 107 matches during the season (most in the team) and ranks first with a success rate of 0.589. Among the B1G average, his 63 matches won second.

• Erik Middendorf gave a pass to last Friday’s match at UMass-Lowell and has a 1-2–3 finish line. He, Nodler and the freshman Tanner Kelly are three normal Spartan strikers with no penalty this season for six games.

• Middendorf played two seasons at Colorado College before returning to junior hockey in seasons 2019-20 and 2020-21, when he won the Clark Cup at Chicago Steel (USHL). He scored seven goals and 13 points in 47 CC races at MSU.

• Middendorf played on the USNTDP before his trip to CC, where he played Danton Cole in the season 2016-17 in the U-17 team.

• Seniors Adam Goodsir appeared in the 100th game of his career at UMass-Lowell on Friday.

PLAYER COMMENTS – DEFENSE

• David gucciardi scored his first goal of his career on Friday at UMass-Lowell.

• Gucciardi is the only freshman in the Sparta Blue Line and will come to East Lansing after two seasons in Waterloo (USHL). He has played all six games Christian Krygier as his D-partner. He has 12 blocked shots, which is the team’s second.

• Christian Krygier appeared in the 100th game of his career on Saturday at UMass-Lowell, and twin brother Cole has played 93. Cole leads the Big Ten series in penalty minutes (19), while Christian holds the team’s lead in penalties (6).

• Dennis Cesana is the team’s top scorer (1-2–3) and is the team’s third in the shots fired (10).

• Cesana has been one of Big Ten’s most productive defenders over the past three seasons. The double All-Big Ten selection has 61 points (13 g, 48a) in 105 green and white career matches. He earned the Preseason Honorable Mention All-Big Ten awards this fall.

• Nash Nienhuis played his career with a couple of entry points in the second multipoint game in another game against Air Force. He is +2 in the overall result of the season, skating in the top pair with Cesana.

• Powell Connor leads the Big Ten series with 15 blocked shots, and had four last weekend in the Lowell series. He has played all six matches this season.

PLAYER NOTES – Goalkeepers

• MSU shared its weekend among its two goalkeepers for the third week in a row.

• DeRidder defeated the best 37 fights of the season in the MSU 2-2 draw last Friday and was named the first star of the game. He earned the Big Ten Second Star of the Week on Monday, MSU’s second consecutive Choice.

• Seniors Drew DeRidder he has three of the top four single-game rescue performances at Big Ten this season. His 37th Lowell finishes first, his 36th vs. Air Force season opener finishes second, and he made 35 stops to Miami (10/16), who finishes fourth.

• DeRidder ranks second in Big Ten and sixth nationally with a defeat rate of 0.947 and fifth in B1G with 1.92 GAA (16th Division I goalkeepers). He also ranks third in the B1G series in combat per game (21.60)

• DeRidder was named Spartans MVP and winner of the Best Player award last season. A Fenton native released a 2.76 GAA and 0.923 percent savings. DeRidder led the Big Ten fight with a total of 723 fights and fights per game on December 30th.

• Second year student Pierce Charleson got a nod in Saturday’s match and fought 27 times with a hard 4-0 loss. He ranks fifth in Big Ten with 2.01 GAA and is fourth in the combat percentage (.933).

• Charleson started three times and played in seven matches in the ranks of Michigan State last season. He collected 2.57 GAAs and 0.938 bouts in these races, making 210 bouts in 326:49.